Brown v. The Board of Education

After the addition of the 14th amendment which states that all citizens must be treated equally under the law, the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson took its own interpretation of it. From the court case, the police of separate but equal was adopted. Basically, the policy said that under the 14th amendment, it was legal that citizens be separated by race, as long as they were treated equal. This policy held its place into society until 1954 when it the case of Brown v. The Board of Education was taken to the Supreme Court.

Brown, an African American was challenging that racial segregation was unconstitutional. Although the policy varied throughout the nation, Brown was suing the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. He argued that there should not be separate schools for blacks and whites, after his daughter Linda would have to walk to her segregated school which was 1.7 miles away rather than going to the white school which was only seven blocks from her house. The District Court ruled in favor of the Board of Education due to stare decisis of the court case Plessy v. Ferguson. It was then, that Brown took it to the Supreme Court.

Initially the Court ruled in favor of Brown in a 7-2 vote. But before he gave the courts decision, he knew how important that over-ruling the Plessy v. Ferguson decision was, so he wanted the vote to be unanimous. After pleading their cases, Warren and the other justices were able to convince one justice but not the other. It wasn't until the last justice ws on his death bed, that he decided to change his decision, making the ruling 9-0 in favor of Brown. This overturned the separate but equal policy that has been in place for almost 50 years and ended the Jim Crow era.